Week 24: Cambodia

We are coming at you this week from our 11^th country, Cambodia! Between mixed messages about transportation and sneaky border behaviour, we had quite the day getting here. We left 4000 Islands via boat, and then were put on a tourist bus where we were given top-notch floor seating. We were unloaded at the Laos/Cambodia border, where we filled out many forms, paid for a mysterious health check, and then an overpriced exit fee. We then bypassed a border guard who was yelling at other tourists about paying more than they had expected for a visa to enter Cambodia. Once we left the building, we waited for a minibus, which we rode for close to eight hours to get to Siem Reap. Once we were there, we checked into our hotel and got ready to explore!

The main reason for our visit here was to see the temples. Before we set off for our travels this year, our friend Mitch loaned us his copy of Ancient Angkor to get us excited about these temples. It definitely worked! We set out with a three-day temple pass, and lots of water! For our first day, we joined a tour of the most popular temples. After that, we travelled by tuktuk with our lovely driver, Toma. He took us around the Grand Circuit, which consisted of seven temples, and then took us out of town to explore two more on our final day of temple trekking. 

The first temple in the area was built in the 10^th century. By the 19^th century, many of the temples were overgrown because it was so difficult to maintain them. The French revived these temples when they came into Cambodia.

Top 10+1 Temples:

Angkor (large famous wat)

• Surrounded by moat and exterior wall
• Huge (1.5kmx1.3km)
• Very crowded- 100 people are allowed up near the top of the temple every ten minutes, so we waited in a huge lineup
• Was a Hindu temple in 12^th century, and then changed to Buddhist in 15^th century
• Took one million people to create

Line up to go to the top

Bayon (wat with faces)

• Built in the heart of Angkor Thom, a city spanning 9km
• Constructed during late 12^th/early 13^th centuries
• Had 49 towers originally, and 35 remain standing today
• Was the first temple with faces
• Said to be golden once upon a time

Ta Prohm (jungle wat)

• Has 39 towers
• 600x1000m in size
• 12640 people lived inside the temple walls, and there was even a school and hospital inside
• There’s trees growing out of it all over! You can really see how the trees could take over and ruin all of the temples

Baphuon (mountain wat)

• Located in Angkor Thom
• Built mid 11^th century
• Looks like a three-tiered mountain
• We were able to climb up near the top, and there weren’t many people because we went early in the morning

Preah Khan (doorway wat)

• Pathway to temple lines with good/evil bodies pulling on naga (snake)
• Temple has so many doorways to walk through

Neak Pean (water wat)

• Have to take a walking bridge to access temple
• Located on an island, surrounded by large lake that was dug out by hand
• Has a resident rooster

Ta Som (arch wat)

• Has trees growing around back entrance
• Has elaborate archways

East Mebon (animal wat)

• Feels like a very open air temple
• Created using red pitted rock
• Has many statues of elephants and lions that are in good shape
• We were able to climb up and around

Pre Rup (steep steps wat)

• Another open air temple with towers and free standing walls
• We were able to climb up near the top
• Looking around, you can imagine what it might have looked like

Banteay Srei (jewel wat)

• 37km from Siem Reap
• Tiny temple completed in 967AD
• Unlike other Angkorian temples, this temple was not commissioned by royal family
• Constructed of pink sandstone, and consists of three primary towers
• Has very detailed carvings, and is known as “Jewel of Khmer Art” 

Banteay Samre (walled wat)

• Framed by a tall wall that was mostly intact
• Has two inner walls, one of which is created with pillars
• Has a number of buildings inside the temple walls

And the votes are in! Our favourite temples were… Bayon (Will) and Ta Prohm (Natasha).

We had been given much warning about the begging and persistent sales people surrounding the temples. Maybe it was because we were preparing for the worst, or maybe it was because we have already experienced a fair bit of this during the last few months, but it really wasn’t bad. Since Siem Reap is such a tourist destination, we have found that there are certainly more expensive areas here (i.e. food on pub street, tours booked online), but you can still find lots of cheaper options if you look around. Although their official currency is riel, everything is listed in US dollars, so that has made things easy to convert as well!

In an attempt not to upset anyone experiencing ridiculously cold weather back in Canada, I will simply state, this one single time, that the weather here has been very, VERY warm. Like, dripping in sweat, constantly seeking shade, and walking at half tempo to avoid exerting yourself kind of warm. In order to combat the heat, we happily split our days between temples and this glorious place:

Our evenings consisted of exploring the lively Pub Street and many container pubs, multiple night markets and food carts set up along the edge of the roads. One of the popular food carts is the Eat-A-Bug carts, where for only .50US, you can munch on your choice of snake, tarantula, cricket, worm or beetle. Despite my best efforts to pump myself up to try this, I just couldn’t. It also didn’t help that they were often set up right beside a fried ice cream stand. When given a choice, ice cream wins every time.

After we were officially templed out, we joined a tour of Tonle Sap Lake. We took a wooden boat out on this massive lake, and travelled to the town of Kampong Phluk. This town consists of 8000 residents living in 400 houses on stilts that are 8-10m high. During the dry season, the lake is 3000 square km, but during the monsoon season, the lake becomes 12000 square km and the water levels rise dramatically. We are here during the dry season, so we were able to walk down the main street between the houses. We then went with a local woman who took us on her riverboat and paddled through a floating forest. This was just so cool. We saw lots of nets set up in the water, and many fishermen working away.

We are spending our final day in Siem Reap by the poolside. Tonight, we will be taking a night bus to Sihanoukville, and then a boat over to Koh Rong Sanloem. Beaches and snorkeling, here we come!